Free Range Learning

In 1984, during the 9th Grade I skipped 90 days of school, or about half the school year. I spent most of those days reading at the Penn Lake Library in Bloomington MN. The brilliant High School student in this video explains why my behavior wasn’t as stupid as you’d think:

Hat Tip to Dr. Scott McLeod and his outstanding education blog Dangerously Irrelevant. I wish him much success is his effort to revolutionize education.

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2 thoughts on “Free Range Learning”

That is so well-said. I guess that many may think schooling is important probably because they are worried that students themselves are not motivated and will need things pushed onto them. In that sense, schooling is sort of based in fear?

Schooling is absolutely fear based. Ask any middle class parent of a teenager what causes them the most fear and stress – the possibility their child may fail at schooling. In our society success in school = success in life. At least that is the story we are told our whole lives. Any institution that is based on force and fear is ugly and destructive. We need to change the paradigm from success in schooling = success in life to success at learning = success in life, there are many ways to learn and schooling is one of the worst ways.